Juvia's leave
by Pansister
Summary: "If Juvia lets Gray-sama come, he cannot interfere." "Fair enough, but will you tell me what's going on while we're headed to where ever it is we're going?" "If you let Juvia do this, then yes." "Good, 'cause I have a hell of a lot of questions."
1. Questions

Rain hit the ground, a pair of black boots kicking up the water in the puddles. The boots belonged to the figure of Grey, the ice mage of Fairytail. He heard the soft sound of crying, and it was close. He turned, following the sound; he was surprised to find Juvia sitting behind the guild hall with her head buried in her knees. He walked up, resting a hand on her shoulder, "You okay?" He asked softly, kneeling beside her.

"Grey-sama." Juvia sniffed, looking up into his black eyes. She looked back down, shaking her head. "It's, n-nothing." She sniffed again, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

Grey looked at her sadly for a moment before speaking, "It's not nothing, no one cries for no reason." He stood up, holding out his hand to her. "Come on; let's get out of the rain."

Juvia looked at him, taking his hand and pulling herself up with his aid. She allowed herself to be pulled into the deserted guild hall; no one was there since it was late, or rather early. Being around two in the morning, most of the members were at home. She looked up as he began to speak again, her tears starting to fade away.

"Really, tell me." Grey said, looking her straight in the eyes, "What's wrong?" He raised his eye brows questioningly as she tapped both of her index fingers together worriedly, "And don't even think of lying."

Juvia's eyes flickered back and forth between her hands and Grey's face. Finally she let out a sorrowful sigh, "I have to leave the guild." Her eyes filled with tears, she looked away; unable to meet Grey's dumbfounded stare.

"B-but, I thought you liked it here?" He asked, recovering from his shocked silence.

"I do, I love it here." She let out a small sob, tears running down her cheeks. A surprised look flashed across her face as she was pulled into a hug. Juvia pushed Grey away, much to his surprise, and took a step closer to the door.

"Then don't leave." He said simply, reaching out and grabbing her arm. Again she pulled away from him, now standing in the door way. "Why are you leaving anyway?"

"I need to." Juvia said quickly, turning away before he could object. "Goodbye, Grey." She managed a weak smile as she ran into the thundering rain, leaving Grey standing in the door way.

"Goodbye." He whispered in return as she ran; his voice hardly noticeable. He didn't know what hit him hardest, the good bye; or her saying his name normally. '_Why do you need to go_' Was the question unanswered in his head as he stared after her running figure, until she slipped out of sight into an alley way.

To be continued~~

Author's note: Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed my story; it's about the anime/manga Fairytail. The characters are Juvia Lockser and Grey Fullbuster. Characters belong to Hiro Mashima .


	2. Let's Think This Through

**Chapter 2**

Grey stood there in the door way, still in shock. He mentally slapped himself, rushing to try to catch up with the water mage. He stopped dead in the alley, she wasn't there. "Damn" He grumbled, his fist meeting the stone wall. He was surprised to find tears forming in his eyes; he wiped them away before they could fall. He ran to the other end of the alley, running down the street. Grey realized that the rain had started to fade, showing that either Juvia had stopped crying; or disappeared. He headed back to the guild, surprised to see a few early birds already there; Natzu, Lucy, and Erza.

"Hey Grey, you're not usually here this early." Said Erza, looking him straight in the eyes. "What happened?" She asked, throwing Grey off-guard.

"I was talking to Juvia because she was crying behind the guild hall. She said she had to leave the guild, and then she just took off without telling me why." Grey explained, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Natzu looked at Grey, "Let's go find her then." He said simply, acting like it was a simple task. Grey looked at him, with a 'you don't say' look and rolled his eyes.

"I don't know where she went, Firehead. The last I saw was her slipping into an alley." He explained, pulling out a chair from a table and sitting on it with the back of it on chest. "I checked the street behind it too, it's like she just disappeared."

"We'll find her, I'm sure of it." Lucy spoke up, her eyes flicking to all the worried faces around her. "But the longer the wait the farther away she'll get, so we better get moving." She stood up and pushed in her chair, the rest mimicking her movement. "Any idea's how to find her?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, she was called the rain woman for a reason." Grey said, eyebrows rising. "If we follow storm clouds we might find her."

"But that's a slim chance, if we're wrong she'll be too far away to find." Erza paused for a moment, looking over to Natzu. "Hey Natzu, how would you feel about sniffing Juvia down?" She asked, a smirk clearly visible on her lips.


	3. Found

~Author's note- I'm really sorry for being so inactive, recently I've felt like the computer was taking over my life... so I needed some space; hopefully these 2 chapters I am releasing today makes up for it : ) Thanks if you're still keeping up with the story (oh, and I realized I've been typing Gray's name wrong….oops… oh well) Now, on with the story ~

Natzu ran in front of Erza, Gray, and Lucy. They had left Magnolia_town an hour or two ago; thanks to Natzu being right on the trail of Juvia. "How did she get this far away so fast?" Erza wondered out loud, "How close are we to her anyway?" She turned her head to Natzu; eyebrows raised._

_"Hmm…" Natzu thought for a moment, "Sorta close…" He sniffed the air, his eyes lighting up for a moment. "She's not alone though." He looked over to Gray, "Did you see her meet anyone?"_

_Gray shook his head, "No… we were the only two people at the Guild." He kicked a pebble away, looking back up to his comrade, "Do they smell familiar?"_

_"No, not at all." Came the reply everyone was both relived, and worried to hear._

_"I hope Juvia's okay." Lucy's voice broke the silence, as nods of agreement matched her thinking. "Well, let's keep going." She smiled, looking over all of her friends' faces._

_"You ready to go?" Erza asked Natzu; who was now sitting at the base of the tree they were resting at._

_" 'Course." Came his short reply as he stood up. He turned and started walking west, the others following behind him._

_…_

_A little while later, the 'search party' was walking up to a stout, but short, building; a dark guild. "Juvia's in there." Natzu nodded to the ominous building._

_"What?!" Came the surprised reply of the three other mages._

_"Why would she join a dark guild?" A rather shocked Lucy asked.  
><em>_  
><em>_"__She wouldn't." Gray replied firmly, "something happened, Juvia loves fairy tail too much to just leave."_

_"I know something else she loves too much to leave." Erza smirked at Gray, causing an embarrassed look to pass over his face._

_"Not now." Gray said, waving her off._

_"Guys look." Lucy butted in, pointing to the window closest to where the group was hiding from behind a few rocks. In the window was the figure of Juvia and an older man._

_The man loomed over her, yelling. Juvia stood definitely, her arms crossed over her chest. She was yelling in return. The shadowed man waved his hand, causing a pained expression to pass over Juvia's face before she crumpled to the ground._

_"What the….." Gray trailed off, horrified. _


	4. Confrontation

"What was that?!" Lucy exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hands when she realized she yelled. It was not only her hands that flew to her mouth though; Erza, Gray, and Natzu covered her mouth as well, in the process pulling her and the three of them further into cover. "Sorry." She said sheepishly when they had taken away their hands.

Everyone sighed and looked over the rock, unintentionally making eye contact with the man. Natzu looked over at Gray; they nodded in unison, jumping over the rock and rushing at the window. As glass flew everywhere, Natzu and Gray punched the man to the ground for a short while. But they had bought enough time for Lucy to run in and pull Juvia to cover, and Erza to run in and join the fight.

Juvia's eyes fluttered open, looking up at Lucy. "Wha… Why?!" Juvia pushed away Lucy, still disoriented. She looked over Lucy's shoulder, seeing the three figures in the entry way of the guild glaring at each-other. Her eyes widened in shock, sadness, and a mixture of worry. She turned back to Lucy, "Why did you come?"

Lucy was a little taken aback, "Gray told us about how you left, and we were worried so we came to find you." She smiled quickly to Juvia before wiping the smile off her face. "What's going o—"She ducked quickly as a long strand of water flew over head. "Juvi-"She was cut off by a flash of thunder, and looked up seeing tears streaming down Juvia's face.

"Juvia's sorry; this is why she left…" Juvia sobbed, sincerity deeply woven in her voice.

"Why did you leave?!" Lucy shouted over the pouring rain, exasperation and confusion clear on her face.

"My unc-" Juvia's face flashed with pain from another wave of the man's hand.

"Say no more." His booming voice commanded, twisting his hand to the side more; causing Juvia to cry out and curl into a ball to cradle her body that was burning with agony.

All four pairs of eyes flashed to Juvia and back to the shadowed man. Anger burned deep inside all the Fairy tail wizards, "What are you doing to her?!" Came the enraged cry of booth Gray and Natzu; who were both running towards the man.

Before they could get to him he moved his hand sharply to the side, causing Juvia to slam into a wall of rocks. She cried out again, and a wicked grin was the only thing viable on the man's face. "I am a water god slayer, and I can control my niece however I choose." He said coldly; causing one thought to flash into everyone's mind but Juvia's and her Uncle's. '_Juvia's made of water!' _

Juvia rose up, a look of sorrow in her eyes; directed at Gray. "T-his is wh-y Juvia left." She stuttered painfully through the sentence, tears starting to weld up behind her eye-lids. "Juvia's sorry."

Juvia ran forward, knocking Lucy out of the way. A geyser of water hit Natzu and Gray full-force; sending both of them flying into Erza. Her eyes were closed, as she was obviously pained by the thought of hurting her friends. "Sorry." She whispered inaudibly through the rain.

"Oh shut up girl." Came the shout of the man, turning his wrist to hurt her yet again. "Shame I can't control your mouth." He grumbled lowly, but still loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You bastard." Gray growled, running forward. Ice blades grew off his elbow; he threw himself forward, cutting both the man's hood and face.

The man's face was thick with a defined jaw; his hair was buzzed, leaving the slightest shadow of blue. Gray left a cut right below the man's left eye. His right eye was completely a milky white, unlike the other brown one. Though onto off the white there was a pale red scar visible.

Gray was met with a blade of water, cutting down his back. "Gah!" He spat, turning to Juvia for a moment; his gaze met with a sorrowful stare. He saw her mouth the word 'sorry' yet again, and she broke into a sob. But his eyes were forgiving, turning back to Natzu, Erza, and Lucy; who had recently ran over. He looked over to Lucy and nodded towards Juvia.

Lucy nodded back, reaching for her golden keys. She held one in front of her, "Open the Gate of the Ram! _Aries_!"She shouted, the pink-haired celestial spirit appearing with a small puff of smoke.

"I'll do my best." The spirit said sheepishly, putting up her wool-cuffed hands. A stream of pink, fluffy wool shot out, surrounding Juvia.

At the same time Lucy attacked Juvia, the three mages behind her jumped at the water god slayer. Natzu had a fist of fire; Erza held her sword at the ready as she jumped, not yet reequipping; and Gray still used his ice-blades. They all hit him simultaneously; knocking him back. He clenched his teeth and stood in the mud that had once been sand and dust. He surprised them by shooting the rain at them; the impact feeling like small bullets. Juvia saw this and immediately forced herself to stop crying, bringing the rain to a slow drizzle.

Erza gave a smile of gratitude to Juvia and reequipped into her water empress armor, flicking some rain off her sword. Natzu smirked before breathing in deeply, pulling his hands up to his mouth. A burst of flame shot from his mouth, and temporarily blocked the water god slayer from view; as well as Lucy and Juvia. Erza began to lunge forward; but was cut off by the sudden movement of the Shadowed man. When he came completely into view they all saw something they never wanted to see; He was holding Juvia by the neck, wearing a smirk that made it blatant he thought he won.

"One move, and she dies."


	5. Loss

Everyone froze; eyes wide. The water-mage struggled, to no avail. She looked over to her friends, watching as Lucy came out from the last trail of smoke. She stopped struggling and gave her usual shy smile, looking at Gray. Her smile faded as her eyes drifted to Natzu.

"Put her down, now." Growled Natzu, a ball of flames appearing on his fist.

The man smirked, shrugging his shoulders. He replied in a cold voice, "If you insist." A sickening _crack_ resounded through the air, the limp figure of Juvia dropping to the ground.

Natzu, Gray, and Erza rushed forward; lashing out and knocking him to the ground quickly, tears of anger forming in the corners of their eyes. In just a moment he would be; burned, cut, and frozen. "You messed with the wrong team." Said Erza, her eyes appearing red.

Natzu jumped up, hitting the water god slayer with wings of fire. Erza came in right behind him, her sword slashing deeply into the man's chest. As the man stumbled backwards Gray ran forward, adding to her cut by making two gashes of his own. Lucy pulled a new key from her belt; she held it in front of her, summoning Scorpio. A stream of sand blasted the man full-force, some of the sand going straight into his open gash.

"Gah!" The man exclaimed, sliding back from the impact. He looked down at the body of Juvia; mentally kicking himself for killing her so soon.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to her." Gray growled, running forward; spinning around to the back of the man.

"Ice make… hammer." He hit Juvia's uncle in the back of the head; knocking him out cold. Gray turned, and propped up Juvia's back; holding her in front of him, tears visible in his eyes. Erza and Natzu kneeled behind him, both equally teary, and then Lucy came over, a smile on her lips.

"What're you smiling about?" Asked Natzu; clearly confused, and a bit upset.

"Oh, nothing." Lucy replied, putting a key on her belt. The body of the blue-haired girl disappeared in a puff of smoke, making almost everyone jump.

The trio looked up at Lucy, and then turned to the sound of foot-steps approaching. They saw a pair of dirty, thigh-high boots; that led up to a torn, blue winter dress.

- What happened in the smoke-

* * *

><p>The burst of fire shot around Juvia and Lucy; blocking them from view. Lucy pulled Juvia out of the wool, and after she pulled out Gemini's key. Gemini copied Juvia, going into the wool like the girl was intertwined in previously. The blond wizard turned to her friend, "Run and hide, we'll take care of this." She said quickly, waving off the girl's protest, "Go!"<p>

Juvia turned and stared running, rather limping, from the smoke in the opposite direction. She slid down against a wall of rock, her eyes flashing over to her uncle holding Gemini. She distantly heard Natzu, and watched as the copy of her dropped to the ground. Her hands flew to her mouth in shock; _that could have been her._ She shakily put her back to the stone, the sounds of the battle seeming distant. She shook her head to clear it and turned back, watching until the end of the battle.

* * *

><p>Juvia limped over, a pained smile on her lips. Lucy sat down, and took back out the key she had recently put away and twirled it on her finger; Gemini. The other four wizards smiled at her, and then stared at Juvia for a moment.<p>

"Juvia's sor-"She was cut off, being enveloped in a hug from Gray, followed by Natzu, Lucy and Erza. Her eyes widened in shock, looking at the people surrounding her. _They aren't…..mad? _ Tears started to flow down her cheeks, as she slipped out of their arms and dropped to her knees. Everyone took a step back from Juvia, giving her some space.

Juvia looked down, and clasped her hands tightly together. She slowly got up, unclasping her hands to help push herself up. "Thank you." She looked at them with a weak smile and dull eyes…. Her eyes lids closed slowly twice before she slowly fell to the side.

Gray jumped forward; catching the unconscious girl in his arms. He breathed out a sigh of relief, and looked down at Juvia. "She's really beat up." He looked over to his comrades, "We should get her back to the guild."

Everyone nodded, and Gray positioned Juvia so he was carrying her in a 'piggy back ride' style. The group started heading back to the guild, which was a good four hours away.

Erza looked over to Juvia as they walked back; the blue-haired mage's head was on Grays shoulder, and her arms folded on her stomach, pressed against his back. Her sitting like this made it harder on Gray to carry her, but to Erza, it looked like he didn't mind.

Gray looked over and saw Erza staring at them, and rolled his eyes. She smirked in response to him, but turned away to talk to Natzu and Lucy. Gray smiled, and he felt Juvia move. He looked over to his shoulder; where a rather groggy Juvia was waking up. Her eye lids flitted open, and she looked around; processing where she was.

Finally she saw that Gray was carrying her, and a small pink flush colored her cheeks. She turned slightly to look behind them, losing her balance slightly. She leaned forward quickly and wrapped her arms around Gray's neck, causing the flush on her cheeks to darken. She sighed, '_that was close_'.

"So, you're awake." Gray looked over quickly, flashing a small smile. "You've been asleep for a while." He continued, looking ahead of him. He heard Juvia not respond and turned again, "You okay?"

She nodded, "Just a little….." She searched for the word, "…Battered." She finished, a tired smile appearing on her lips. "Juvia can walk, if you'd like."

Gray looked at her, and raised an eyebrow. "On that ankle? No way."

Juvia looked down, realizing he was right; her ankle was swollen, clearly sprained or broken. "Thank you." She said quietly, looking over to Natzu, Lucy, and Erza before resting her head on his shoulder again.

~Author's Note~ Yay! Chapter five! I really love this chapter. I'm thinking of making a sixth chapter, when they arrive at the guild. I think it would be fun to write all the member's reactions. But tell me what you think, stop here? Or do another Chapter? Anyways, Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing; it really means a lot 3


	6. Healing

"Can we take a break? My feet are killing me."Lucy exclaimed, breaking the silence that had been on the group for about an hour.

Erza looked up; it was later than any of them wanted to be, around noon, "Well, we'd probably be later than expected if we take a break, but we could use one." She looked at the faces around her, all tired and beat-up.

Lucy smiled and lay down, staring up at the slow moving clouds. Natzu went and helped Gray put down Juvia, making sure her feet were rested down last. She smiled to them, "Thanks." Her voice was quiet, and was obviously hiding pain.

" 'course." Natzu smiled, walking over to sit next to Erza and Lucy. The trio's eyes passed over to Gray and Juvia, watching as they spoke.

"How are you holding up?" Gray asked, giving a worried glance to the blue-haired mage. The response he got was a weak nod, showing how close Juvia was to passing out. Gray wanted to ask for the full story, since he was only able to piece together a little bit of it himself. But he saw how tired she was, and decided to wait.

After a while Erza stood up, brushing dirt off her everyday armor. "We need to get going." Her gaze traveled over to Gray and Juvia, passing right over Natzu stealing papers that Erza suspected were part of Lucy's novel.

"NATZU!" Lucy yelled, a slight laugh detectable in her voice; though it was strongly buried with aggravation.

Gray stood up, and looked at the dozing girl on the tree behind them. "Should I keep-" He didn't need to finish his sentence, since everyone was already nodding. He carefully picked up the blue-haired mage and put her onto his back with a wince because of the large cut across his back. He turned to the rest of the group and nodded towards Mongolia. "Let's move then."

**_Thump_**

The sound of metal boots hitting the stone pathway of Mangolia was a truly welcome sound to all four awake mages. Erza gave a relived, but tired smile, and turned to watch Natzu greet Happy who had just flown over to him.

"What Happened?!" Happy exclaimed, flying over to the sleeping form of Juvia.

'That's the first of many questions….' Gray thought, meeting the cat's eyes. "Erm, you'll have to ask her when she wakes up." Sure, he wanted to respect her privacy, but hell…. He didn't understand half of what just happened.

* * *

><p>It was about dinner time when they got back to the guild hall, so quite a few members were there eating. Juvia was still balanced on Gray's back and had yet to wake up. Lucy stood next to and talked to Gray. In front of them lead Erza and Natzu, who were pretty silent the entire time they walked.<p>

Erza's eyes drifted up and met Mira's eyes, brushing off the girls questions, "I need to see Wendy and the master. Now."

Wendy turned quickly away from the job board when she heard the red-head's urgent voice, she motioned for Gray to follow her to a small medical room off the back hallway. Gray put down the weak bluenette on the small twin bed, wincing inwardly as he did so.

The dragonslayer kneeled down and began to heal Juvia's ankle, looking up to the ice-mage as she did so. "What happened?" __

_There were those two words again. _"I'm honestly not sure how much she wants us saying to other people, so you'd be better off just asking her." He said, sitting in a white chair in the corner of the small room.

"Alright, I'll ask her later. " The young mage said, moving up from the torso she finished healing to Juvia's head. "…Hmm"

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah, she has a really bad concussion… she must have gotten hit on the head **really **hard, who ever fought you guys was really tough."

"….Yeah."

Wendy looked between the sleeping form of Juvia and Gray, concern deeply wound into her eyes. "I'll be back later to check on her," She stood and walked to the door, "Make sure that no one comes and wakes her up, she needs the sleep." The girl smiled sympathetically and stepped out the door, shutting it behind her.

Gray stood and reached behind his shoulder, gingerly pulling the shirt off of his back, he winced and gave a quiet, but sharp hiss when the fabric left his skin. The air rushed over his fresh cut, stinging the parts that were not crusted in dry blood, then he heard an intake in breath that was not his own.

He turned and saw Juvia, looking at him with wide eyes. He turned back around, getting ready to put back on his shirt. But before he could, he felt a hand delicately touching next to the cut. His skin tingled, and he looked over his shoulder to the now tearing up girl.

"This is all Juvia's fault, She's so-"

Gray cut her off, turning around. "If I hear you apologize one more time…" He said softly, clearly not meaning anything serious by his unfinished threat.

"But…" She trailed off, seeing his raised eyebrow and the stern look in his eyes. "Can Juvia help?"

"Help? How?"

"Here." She stepped around him, or hobbled rather, and held up her hands, an orb of water appearing. She pressed it against the cut, wincing when she heard him breathe in sharply. His shoulders relaxed, the water warm against his back, cleaning out the dirt and fibers from his shirt that compiled there on the trip home.

She limped over to the window on the side of the bed, opening it with one hand and dropping the dirty water out with the other. She then shut the window, turning back to Gray; who now had his shirt on.

"Thanks…. You should sit"

"You're Welcome." She wobbled, and looked up when Gray put his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

He led her to the chair he was previously sitting in, kneeling in front of her. "So…" He paused, scratching the back of his head, "Do you want to clear up what happened back there?"

She sat, eyes looking at her hands resting in her lap as if they somehow contained all the answers. "It's confusing…"

"What do you mean, 'confusing'?"

"Juvia just doesn't know how to explain…"

"….Well let's make this easier. Let's start with your, um, uncle" He regretted saying that, as a twitch shook her body when he brought up her uncle.

"Well he is…was…mother's brother. He used to be a warm and kind hearted man, then mother…" _was killed, _"…Died, and he changed completely. Into the person you saw him as, someone who would kill his family." Her voice then dropped to a barely audible whisper, "Though Juvia can't say her family never betrayed her before…."

"Wait, what was that?"

"Nothing." She shook her head, and winced from her harsh headache

"No… It was something…"

"… It's a long story, and Juvia doesn't have the time to tell it all." The girl stood, opening the window.

"Oi! What are you-" He watched as she hopped out the window, landing softly on the grass no more than 5 feet below her, he followed suit; putting a firm hand on her shoulder. He was going to ask again, but she cut him off before he even began.

"If Juvia lets Gray-sama come, he cannot interfere."

"Fair enough, but will you tell me what's going on while we're headed to where ever it is we're going?"

"If you let Juvia do this, then yes."

"Good, 'cause I have a hell of a lot of questions."

* * *

><p>Gajeel opened the door, looking around the stark white room. "Wendy, what are talking 'bout? No one is in here."<p>

"What?!" Was the collective cries from all the people in the central zone of the guild hall; Erza, Master, Lucy, Natzu, Happy, Wendy, and Levy came down the hallway to meet Gajeel.

"I don't understand, They were both right here when I left… Juvia was asleep, and to be honest Gray looked pretty close to passing out himself." Wendy said, walking over and sitting on the twin bed in the room.

"I'm sure they're fine… Gray wouldn't let her do something stupid when she's in such bad shape." Levy said, looking up at Gajeel in a comforting manner.

"I'm going to kick his ass so bad when he comes back." Natzu muttered, pounding his fist into his hand.

"Count me in." Erza spoke, turning to the Master. "We're just going to wait for them to come back?"

"It's what we did for you."

"Alright, then we wait."

* * *

><p>*Author's note*<br>I am so sorry I put this off for so long, next chapter will be up either tonight or tomorrow; depending how much I get done. I am super excited for the next few chapters and I have a ton planned, so look forward to it!

Also, thank you for all the feedback. It really means a lot. I love you all, and have a wonderful morning/afternoon/night where ever you are.


End file.
